Tapping the oceans
As more parts of the world face prolonged droughts or water shortages, desalination is on the rise… Not everyone is happy about this. Some environmental groups are concerned about the energy the plants will use, and the greenhouse gases they will spew out. A large desalination plant can suck up enough electricity in one year to power more than 30,000 homes. The good news is that advances in technology and manufacturing have reduced the cost and energy requirements of desalination.
Wouldn’t it be smart to build plants that create electricity from the movement of waves and tides right offshore from the desalination plants?

What’s really hot this summer? A 10-year-old used car
Four-dollar-a-gallon gas has droves of people searching for cars that get good gas mileage. They’re haunting used car lots, posting “Wanted” ads online, and keeping a vigilant eye on the classifieds. The cars of choice: Hondas (Civic and Accord), Toyotas (Corolla and Camry) and Fords (Focus and Fusion).

Capture your car’s CO2 and use it to re-power your vehicle – and your home
A new technology that can capture the carbon emissions from your car is about to be unveiled to the world for the first time. Origo Industries has developed a system that captures the CO2 from your vehicle’s engine and then allows you to turn these emissions into fuel at your own home to re-power your car. The same fuel could also be used to power your house. The system uses a revolutionary new approach where CO2 is regenerated through algae in a home unit, allowing the user to produce bio-oil (up to 2500 litres per year tax-free).

Kentucky encourages use of solar energy
Two years ago, after Frankfort, Ky., resident Angela Mitchell watched “An Inconvenient Truth,” she sat down with her three children and discussed how they could do their part.

Space-based Solar Power
American scientist Peter Glaser proposed the idea of using space solar power in 1968. The fast depleting conventional energy resources renewed the interest for trapping the solar power via satellites.

Solar Speedboat Gets 30 Knots Per Hour
Dutch MK1 prototype is designed to travel at speeds up to 30 knots per hour! In 2006 the Delft Technical University Solarboat Team raced the speedboat to first place in the Nuon Frisian Solar Challenge.
Because the world needs more speedboats.

Affordable DIY Solar Heating System
Mother Earth News recently featured an extensive article covering instructions on building your own small-scale solar heating system for as low as $30. The system successfully supplies enough power to keep the building’s interior comfortable in near- 

World’s biggest solar farm at centre of Portugal’s ambitious energy plan
Clean-tech revolution in country without oil or gas. Project also includes wave and wind power. 

Questions rise about cost of solar in the Sunshine State
Of all the ways to reduce global warming, harnessing the power of the sun would seem easiest in Florida. After all, sunlight is clean, free, and plentiful in the Sunshine State.

Upcycled plastic bottles become lamps
Artist-designers and sisters, Reta and Vana Howell create funky, art quality lighting fixtures from upcycled plastic bottles, household plastic containers and recycled scrap metal. Each fixture contains 30-55 plastic water bottles, depending on size and shape. The plastic materials are hardened via THIS’s secret fusion process to create the appearance of glass. Life Expectancy of each “THIS” fixture – 700 YEARS (excluding electrical parts).

UK to give waterless washing machine a spin
A washing machine using as little as a cup of water for each washing cycle could go on sale to environmentally conscious Britons next year. Xeros Ltd, which has been spun out of the University of Leeds to commercialize the technology, said on Monday the new machines would use less than 2 percent of the water and energy of a conventional washing machine.

California contractor aims to build country’s greenest houses
To drive up to the three- bedroom, two-bath bungalow being assembled in a historic residential neighborhood near downtown Folsom, you’d never suspect it’s anything monumental.

Scientists gauge hurricanes by their sound
Picking out the right bass notes deep within the ocean may help predict devastating hurricanes, according to a research project demonstrating the power of acoustics.

Forecast: Dead zone off La., Texas coasts to grow
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Researchers predict a “dead zone” of oxygen-depleted waters off the Louisiana and Texas could grow this summer to 10,084 square miles, making it the largest such expanse in at least 23 years.